The present application relates to traction media that are used on surfaces to increase the coefficient of friction between, for example, vehicles, humans and animals, and such surfaces, and also traction enhancing systems for dispensing traction media.
In climates subject to winter conditions, where the ambient temperatures fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, freezing moisture causes hazardous ice to form on paved surfaces, such as roads and walkways. When encountering ice, vehicles lose the ability to stop and stay on course. Likewise humans and animals can have difficulty staying a foot.
In these climates, it is common practice to deposit sand or gravel to increase the coefficient of friction, or to deposit salt to melt the ice. Although doing so provides a measure of improvement, these methods are not optimal in solving the problem of hazardous ice. Natural media, for instance, have an irregular form, which result in the media when deposited often falling onto the ice so that their planar sides come into contact with the ice instead of the media's vertices which tend to bite into the surface of the ice. Salt in contrast is used primarily to melt ice and expose the road or walkway natural surface. Salt, however, performs this function over a period of time and therefore does not address the immediate need for traction and salt becomes completely ineffective once fully dissolved.
Traction enhancing systems have been proposed that deliver a traction enhancing media in the vicinity of the tire path of a vehicle to improve traction, vehicle stability and shorten stopping distance. Such systems primarily deposit natural media, such as sand or gravel, by dropping it from a hopper in the vicinity of a vehicle's tires. When a vehicle is in motion, this method can be largely ineffective due to the speed of the vehicle and atmospheric winds that may prevent the sand or gravel from being deposited directly under the tires where it is needed to improve traction, vehicle stability and shorten stopping distance.
Air ducts have been used in such traction enhancing system to direct traction enhancing media into the air stream where the media is delivered to the road surface, but these ducts have largely been ineffective. That is, these systems do not consistently and repeatedly deliver sand and/or gravel to the appropriate location in front of the vehicles tires in a regulated enough way to improve traction, vehicle stability and shorten stopping distance. Also, these systems routinely clog as a result of moisture caused clumping of the traction enhancing media.
Accordingly there is a need for a traction media and systems for depositing traction media that are not so limited.